Controlling mechanism for doors.



Patented Sept. 2, 1913.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1A T. H. GARLAND. 10ml-@mmm MECHANISM rou Doom. APPLlATXON ULB!) NOVA 6. 1912.

T. H. GARLAND.

CONTHOLLING MRUHANISM FOR nomas.

APPLiCATlON FILED NOV. G, 1MB

Patented Sept. 2, 195

` compressed sealing material will cause stickdoor may swell on account of dampness vso provided for5 the opening; the sealing ma- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

THOMAS H. GARLAND, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CONTROLLING MECHANISM FOR DOORS.

1,07 mso.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, THOMAS H. GAHLAND, a resident of the city ot' Chicago, in the county ol tooli and State ot Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Im roveinents in Controlling Mechanism for ours, of which the following is a specification.

illy invention relates to controlling mechanism for doors and concerns particularly improved hinge mechanism therefor. y

My invention is particularly adaptable in connection with doors of refrigerator Cars. In the prevailing arrangement for such doors rigid hinges are used, that is, hinges whose hmge members may swing relatively but which are otherwise'rigid. lnrefrigerator cars the doors are usually a trifle shorter and narrower than the openings which they are to close and packing or seal ing material is applied to be compressed between the opening edges and the door edges when the door is closed in order to securely seal the opening. Where rigid hinges are used the space allotted between the door and the car wall for the sealing material is fixed and if after closure of a door the sealing material is not sutli'c-iently compressed to effect proper sealing, no further compression threof can be effected. Again a that the lsealing material between the free edge of theuoor and the vcar wall will be too much for the narrow space between the door and the wall and the door can be closed only under considerable strain on the hinge pins and in many cases cannot be fully Closed. 'The sealing materiall between the free edge of the door and the wall is often under heavy and harmful pressure whereas the sealing material between the butt edge of the door and the Wall may not be suiii ciently compressed to effect. proper sealing, The sameis also true where two doors are may be hea V'ily compressed whereas there will be insu 'cient sealing along the butt edge ot' the door. Furthermore, the heavily terial betwe; the free sides of the doors ing of the door and make it tlitlicultto open the same.

One of the important objects ot' my invention is therefore to provide yielding hinge g mechanism which-will allow a` door or doors t0 move ixtheir own planes during closure j there@ so `that pressure on the sealing mat Specification of Letters Patent. Appnmnon :ned November s, i912. smal No. 729,726,

Patented Sept. 2,1913.

the members having its hinge pin hole elonl gated in a direction parallel with the car wall or door so that the door with its hinge members thereon can be shifted bodily in a direction parallel with the car wall. The hinge members are also free to move relatively bodily in the direction of their hin c pins so that the door may also move bodi y vertically to seat itself in its opening to cause the pressure on the upper and lower packing to be evenly distributed. With this arrangement, when the door is closed. it will have sufficient bodily movement in all lateral directions so. that it will accurately' seatl itself in the opening and distribute the pressure uniformly against the sealing inaterial which surrounds it.

-Another important object of the invention is to provide an arrangement for prevent-ing unchecked swinging of the door, it being well known that a great many doors are annually torn from their hinges by swinging open and being struck by passing trains or by obstructions. To prevent this I apply springs which tend to niove the doors at a in connection with 'these springs I providt` hooks for locking the doors in open position against the tension of the springs. With this arrangement, if it is desired to keep the door open, it is imperativethat the hooks be applied as otherwise the door would continuously close, but when thus hooked the doors are out ot danger and cannot he injured or torn oil". As'soon as the hooks are removed the doors will automatically swing into closed position and thus the doors` will be either closed or will be held securely against the car sides by the hook mechanism. As the hinge members are relatively bodily movable, the spring mechanisms are arranged to allow such bodily movement of l times into closed position and the accompanying doors started on its opening movement;

Fig. 4 is a similar sectionalview showing the door fully open and locked against the ear by the hook mechanism; and Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the hinge mechanism and spring associated therewith, parts being broken away to more clearly disclose the.

construction and arrangement.

Referring to Fig. 1, the wall lw of the car has an opening o for which two doors 10 and 11 are provided, the doors being hung from the Wall by hinges 12. Although any suitable mechanism may be provided for locking the doors in closed position, I have shown locking mechanism as described in my Patent No. 1,037,892 dated September 10, 1912. brackets 13 and 14 being provided v above and below the opening o and having the locking grooves 15 and 16 for receiving` the outer ends of levers 17 and 18 pivoted to one of the doors at 19 and4 20 respectively. the inner ends of these -levers being connected by a link 21 and the lever 17 being extended to form an operating handle `22, guide brackets 23 and 24 being secured to the door tor the outer ends of the levers, all as describ d in said patent. As is customary in car builders practice, packing material is provided `to seal the spaces between the doors and the wallssurrounding the door opening. Such sealing material is shown in Figs. 2 and 4` grooves 25 being provided at the edges of the opening o for receiving strips 26 of packing material and held outwardly by suitable springs 27. covering 28 of canvas or other material being applied over the sealing strips and the opening edges. Tt is understood, of course, that such sealing material is applied all around the door at the top and bottom as well as at the sides, the sealing material being carried by the side edges of the opening and the top edges thereof and at the bottom of the opening is carried on the lower ends of the doors; while between the doors it is applied to one of the doors as indicated at 29.

Describing now the hinge mechanism, each hinge comprises a member 30 rigidly secured to the ear wall and a "member 31 rigidly secured to the door. These hinge members are hinged together by a hinge pin 32 and this pin is rigidly secured against bodily movement vto one of the hinge meinbers but provision ismade so that the p in and the other hinge member may have relaf,

tive bodily movement. s shown. member 31 of said hinge mechanism has a cylindrical hub from which extends ay plate 34 provided Vwith lsuitable bolt holes 35, a strengthenin web 36 connecting between one edge of t e plate and the hub. The hole 33 through the hub 33 is cylindrical to receive the cylindricalhinge pin 32 and to allow rotation of the hinge pin and longitudinal movementithereof in the hub but to otherwise rigidly hold the pin. The mem` ber 30 of eacli hinge mechanism has ay hub 37 from which extends a plate 38 and a strengthening web 39'. the plate having suitable bolt holes 40. The hub 37 is elongated in a direction parallel with the plate 38 and the hinge pin hole is likewise extended to form a slot. 37. With this arrangement, the hinge members may move relatively bodily in addition to swingingone about the other and either one of the hinge members can be secured to the door and the other to the car wall. As shown, the slotted hinge members are secured to the ear wall and the rigid hinge members are rigidly secured to the door. Thus the doors whose height and width are somewhat less than the height and width of the opening are free to move bodily to the extent of the length of the slots 37 so that the doors can accurately seat themselves and evenly distribute the pressure on the sealing material surroiuiding the door opening and engaging between the doors.

The doors have, lengthwise. as well as trans,-

verse bodily movement. as the hinge pins are of suflicient length to allow vertical separation of the hinge members. I preferably use a single hinge pin member in the form of ay rod 41 tor each set of hinges, the rod passing through the various associated hinge hubs and having a head 41 at its top and a nut 41 secured to its lower end a sufficient distance away from the lower hinge member to allow vertical separation of the hinge members and vertical seating adjustment of the door,

In Fig. 2 the doors are shown entirely closed and in Fig. 3 one of the doors is closed and the other is just about to be finally closed or is at the beginning of its opening l movement. When the door is swung toward yequalize. the pressure. tht` hinge rod moving :i distance along the slots ,l7-.as illu. trated in Fig. 2. As the interior ofrefrlgerator car is more or less damp, the doors are inclined to swell and unless provision is made to enable the door to shift laterally to equalize the pressure against the ackings. coinplete closure of the door coul' not be accomplished and in any event would result in very severe strain on the hinges. With my arrangement, however, the relatively bodily movable hinge members would allow lateral positioning of the door upon closure thereof and if the pressure of the packing is in excess on one side. the door can move bodily to relieve this` pressure and transmit some of it to the opposite sidc so that the packing will be subjected to uniform pressure and such automatic adjustment of the door also takes place in vertical direction on account of the hinge pin arrangement described. The packing is thus protected and at the same time the doors can much more readily close and open and are free from strains and the hinges will not be strained and broken. The described hinge arrangement is articularly adaptable in connection with t e locking mechanism shown and more fully described in my patent referred to. The door is first closed as far as ordinary hand pressure will permit whereupon the locking levers are swung into wedging engagement with the upper and lower brackets and uniform pressure is exerted adaiiist the top and bottom of the door whiceh Gradually and easily lswings into entirely closed position, the door being free in the meantime to shift both sidewise and vertically to equalize the pressure against the sealing material. When the door is to be opened, it is forced open partly during withdrawal of the locking levers. If the pressure or friction still continues between the free side of the door and its adjacent abutment after the pressure of the packing is relieved from the butt side of the door, the door will naturally shift laterally or it can be positively shifted laterally so as to remove the pressure and allow the door to be readily opened to its full extent. In order to facilitate the combined swing and shift of the doors their outer side edges are rounded as indicated at X. It will also be noted that when the door has been fully opened it can be slid laterally as far as the slots 37 will permit, the hinge sides of the door being then well clear of the car open` ing and protected against the bumps and blows during loading or unloading of the car.

A great many car doors are injured or torn ofi' annually by being allowed to stand at rightangles with the car or to swing back and forth during movement of the train. Hook mechanism lz is of course provided, intended to be used to lock the doors against the car side when the doors are open, but frequentlyr such hook mechanism is not used. In order to overcome this, I provide spring mechanism for each door which tends to swing the door into closed position whenever the door released. This spring mechanism will require ilse of the hook mechanism to hold the doors open and will then either be held in closed position or be held against the car sides by the hook mechaiiism. The spring mechanism shown is in the form of a coiled spring 42 encircling the hinge rod, one end 42 of the spring engaging with the door and the other end 49 engaging with the car side. In order to prvent the spring ends from mutilating the wood of the cai' door or body, the end 42 bears against the plate 34 of the door hinge l 80 member and is held in place on such platel by the ridge 43. On the car body a rubbing plate 44 is applied vand has ridges or lugs 45 and 46 extending therefrom, .between which the spring end 42 enga es. This arrangement of the spring will no interfere with the swin or lateral displacement of the door and a roken spring can very easily be removed and a new spring applied.. The spring for each door is preferably applied', adjacent the middle hinge and at a sutiicient distance above the ground so that it. cannot be readily tampered with.

I d'0 not, of course, desire to be limited to the construction or arrangement shown and described as changes and modifications are possible which would still come within the scope of the invention, and

I claim the following:

1. In combination, a supporting wall having an opening, a door for said opening, upper and lower hinges each having one meinber rigidly secured to said wall adjacent said opening and the other member rigidly secured to the door. the vertical pivot line of the hinge pivots being directly in front of the engagingr edges of the Wall and door when said door is closed, and means for adapting said pivot line to be shifted horizontally parallel to the plane of the door and away from the door opening upon opening of said door.

2. In combination, a wall having an opening. a door of less width than said opening, flexible sealing material to be interposed between the engaging edges of said door and opening, hinges each having one member rigidly secured to the wall and the other member rigidly secured to the door, one member of each hinge being slidable lengthwise on the other member thereof whereby said door may move in its plane when closing to thereby adjust itself accurately in closed position within said opening and againstI the sealing material.

3. In combination. a supfporting wall having au opening, a door or said opening, hinges each having one member rigidly secured to the wall adjacent one edge of said opening and the other member rigidly 13u cured to the door, the members of euch hinge l bei' rigidly secured to the wall and the other having hinge pin holes and a hinge pin for member rigidly secured to the door, the 15 enga ing therein, the hinge pin hole of one members of each hinge being relatively mem er of each hin e being extended in a shiftable whereby said door may be moved direction parallel Wit said wall and at right in its plane and toward its hinged side when angles to the edge adjacent which said being closed or opened.

hinges are secured. l In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe 20 4. Indcombifnation, zwallhhaving an openr my name this 4th day of November, 1912.

ing, .a oor o less wi th t an said o ening Y hinged at one side of said opening, exible ,i THOMAS H' GARLAND seallng material interposed between the free edge of said door and the opposite side of said opening, hinges each havlng one meml Witnesses CHARLES J. SCHMIDT, E. G. INGEnsoLL. 

